lated and whose mighty pen wrote the Declaration of Independence. One of the principal reasons why the Richmond meeting was so largely attended by so representative a body of men was the fact that immediately following it on Tuesday of the following week there was to assemble at Washington, the Ninth Annual Pharmacopoeial Convention, gathered for the purpose of electing a Committee of Revision to revise the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, the pharmacists' bible and the pure food and drug expert's breviary. The American Pharmaceutical Association is the oldest, best and most active pharmaceutical association in this country, and promises to become very soon the most largely attended association containing the largest dues-paying membership, and exercising the greatest influence in this country for the scientific and commercial uplift of the toiling and hard-worked pharmacist. There is no doubt that the annual volume of proceedings of the American Pharmaceutical Association is the most valuable publication in pharmacy published today for the retail pharmacist, both because of its splendid array of scientific papers and discussions, and as well as because of the excellent report on the progress of pharmacy contained in it, and written by the Nestor of retail pharmacists-the man whom we all respect and love both for his profound knowledge, his active connection all through life with the retail drug business, and his unsurpassed series of annual reports upon the progress of pharmacy published now annually for thirty years in the Proceedings of the American Pharmaceutical Association, C. Lewis Diehl. When the American Pharmaceutical Association in addition to its very high stand on scientific pharmacy and educational pharmacy will take its equally important and high stand upon the commercial side of pharmacy, then every retail druggist must surely become a member, for he will then surely not only elevate his scientific knowledge and standing by studying its volume of proceedings, but he will as well learn enough practical points and draw as much dollars and cents gaining ideas as will repay him ten times over the annual membership fee of five dollars.

The druggist who does not attend conventions of his fellowmen and who does not read any trade journals or association proceedings will and must inevitably dry up with dryrot. He can not get any new ideas, he does not absorb any new and necessary knowledge, and he loses his good cheer and geniality by ostracising himself from the rest of his fellowmen. If you can by any means attend a meeting of your State association never fail to do so, and if you can attend a meeting of the National Association of the American Pharmaceutical Association you will find that it will repay you in every way possible; your health, your knowledge, your good humor, your nerves and

your business ideas will all be most decidedly sharpened at the grindstone of contact with representative successful men.

From the American Pharmaceutical meeting we all turned our faces up the Potomac to Washington to participate in the convention there of some five hundred delegates from practically every pharmaceutical and medical association and college in the country. There we met men from Oregon and Maine, Florida and Texas and even far-off Cuba sent three delegates to thank the Board of Trustees of the convention for translating the eighth revision of the United States Pharmacopoeia into Spanish, and it was some satisfaction to hear delegates from Cuba and Costa Rica state that this Spanish-United States Pharmacopoeia is gradually being made the official pharmacopoeia of all the Spanish-American countries in Central and South America. It was a great pity that at Richmond as well as at Washington so comparative few pharmacists and physicians from the South were present to help in this great work of pharmacopoeial advance and revision. The result is that only five men from the South were on the last Revision Committee of twenty-five men, of which three were from Baltimore, one from Louisville and one from Atlanta, and that on the new just elected General Committee of Revision of fifty members, only nine are from the South, viz: three from Baltimore, four from Washington, one from Louisville and one from Dallas. The four from Washington are really not Southern men, but men from the North and West located at Washington in Government employ. It behooves the pharmacists and physicians of the South to be more active in their interest in the United States Pharmacopoeia, because unless they are their interests and the products they are especially interested in must suffer in the Pharmacopoeia.

X X X

KEROSENE IN PHARMACY.

By Wm. R. White, Nashville, Tenn.
Read at Richmond meeting A. P'h. A

Kerosene, aside from its use as a heating and illuminating agent, has, so far as I know, never received any recognition as a therapeutic agent, although it has long been employed as a domestic or household remedy for various ailments. In the last few years, however, it seems to have been gaining a place in pharmacy and may in the future become a valuable and popular remedial agent.

Kerosene was formerly obtained by the dry distillation of coal and other bituminous substances, and for this reason was called coal oil, but since the discovery of petroleum the name has been applied almost exclusively to the illuminating oils obtained from petroleum, which have been refined by distillation between 150° C. and 200° C. The following

names are often used as synonyms for kerosene: Coal oil, rock oil, solar oil, paraffin oil, mineral oil, carbon oil, petre, earth oil, photogene, eupione and refined petroleum. Chemically, kerosene is a mixture of hydrocarbons belonging chiefly to the paraffin series.

It has a

specific gravity ranging from .744 to .829, boils above 77° C. and has a flashing point from 62° to 68°. Kerosene mixes with chloroform, ether, turpentine, the volatile oils and most of the fixed oils, but will not mix well with castor oil, glycerin or alcohol. It will dissolve 4 or 5 per cent. of iodine, if warmed and agitated, the solution resembling very much a certain commercial preparation; it will take up a much larger per cent of iodine if mixed with chloroform.

Deodorizing Kerosene.

The disagreeable taste and odor of kerosene have always been a drawback to its use in pharmacy. The bad taste can be greatly modified by sweetening it with a small percentage of saccharine. To deodorize it, however, is a more difficult task. I have experimented with this object in view and find that most any volatile oil, such as cassia, cajeput, cloves, peppermint, wintergreen, camphor, bitter almond or mirbane will disguise its odor. I also tried to deodorize by shaking it with acid solution of such oxidizing agents as potassium permanganate, potassium dichromate and potassium chlorate, and then decanting and filtering it through freshly slaked lime, but none of these entirely deodorized it, although they improved it a great deal. Potassium chlorate gave the best results. Kerosene in an alcoholic solution of potassium hydrate turns the alcoholic solution red and the kerosene is almost completely deodorized. By the liberation of nascent hydrogen in kerosene I got an odor resembling that of onions.

Kerosene, taken internally, if free from sulphur and the lighter hydrocarbons, produces no bad effect. Blyth reports a case where a woman drank a pint of it with suicidal intent, and recovered, a slight pain in the stomach and a little febrile disturbance being the only bad effects. I have known kerosene to be taken internally in numerous cases of croup in children in from one-half to one teaspoonful doses with good results. It is also taken frequently for coughs and colds, usually mixed with sugar. One man in my State has ascribed to it laxative properties. Dr. Granville S. Hanes, Professor of Rectal and Intestinal Surgery in the University of Louisville, Ky.. has experimented with kerosene extensively as a rectal injection for amebic dysentery with excellent results. He uses a half gallon or more at a time. He says: "I have employed the ordinary coal oil for more than two years in the treatment of amebic dysentery. I have used it in more than two hundred cases, not more than fifty, however, affected with amebic dys

entery, and in no case have there been any injurious effects from its use. It is decidedly the best agent I have ever used for the local treatment of amebic dysentery. Patients will receive a much larger quantity of coal oil than they will of any aqueous solution, and will retain it a greater length of time."

Liniment and Emulsion of Kerosene. The most important use of kerosene as a therapeutic agent has been its application externally as a liniment, both alone and in combination with other agents, for rheumatism, lumbago, neuralgia, etc. I submit a formula for a liniment containing 72 per cent. kerosene, which may also be used internally for cramp, colic, etc.: Camphor

1.0 gm.

0.5 c.c.

Oil cloves, oil cassia and carbolic acid dissolved in kerosene make a splendid toothache remedy. Kerosene has already gained rank as one of the best insecticides. Its use for this purpose has been tested in connection with the war on the mosquito during the last yellow fever outbreak. Evelyn Groesbeeck Mitchell, in "Mosquito Life," says an ounce of it sprayed over 15 square feet kills not only larvæ and pupe, but catches the adults and is therefore, by virtue of its simplicity, cheapness and efficiency, the best larvacide for many purposes where its odor is not offensive. Kerosene does not harm fish or aquatic insects that breathe on the surface, and acts well in salt water. An emulsion of kerosene can be cheaply made by the following formula : Green soap Boiling water Kerosene

2 grams

.32 c.c.

.64 c.c.

Dissolve the soap in the boiling water and add to the kerosene and agitate vigorously. This makes a snow-white emulsion which shows little tendency to separate. It can be used to spray trees, etc., when diluted with water. By adding oil camphor, oil cajeput, etc., it makes a splendid liniment also. Kerosene also enjoys some reputation as a remedy for the disease known as limberneck in young chickens. I have known of its use as a hair tonic, but have never tried it for that purpose yet. XX

ITINERANT VENDERS AND DISPENSING PHYSICIANS.

By C. M. Schafer, Canal Fulton, Ohio. Read at meeting of the Ohio Pharmaceutical Association.

In every hamlet, village and city of this great commonwealth of ours we hear the de

spairing cry of the pharmacists; they complain, and justly, too, of the invasion of the pharmaceutical field by the public vender and the dispensing physician. There seems to be, to some extent, an awakening as to the meaning of the terrible menace that confronts the pharmacists through this unjust and unholy competition. It was thought when the Pharmacy Law was passed that there would, for the sake of professional pride and courtesy if for no other reason, be no more dispensing by the physician especially in those districts where drug stores were easy of access.

But, on the contrary, this abuse has been continued and enlarged and in many of our large cities the physician is not only a practitioner of medicine, but of pharmacy as well. In many instances these physicians have young lady assistants who compound the prescriptions of the physician and for fear that they might lose a small per cent of profit, or rather for fear that they might lose a sale, should the physician be absent, when the patient returns, they number their prescriptions and then as you can readily see, this inexperienced lady assistant, who has no knowledge of the dosage of drugs, etc., refills the bottle and the patient goes away satisfied.

The pharmacists today are discussing what would be the best method to defeat this gigantic Hercules by which they have been assailed. During the past year when our legislative committee framed a bill, a blanket bill, which would have given the relief which we desire, the public press, through the instigation of the physicians, accused the pharmacists of scheming the organization of a gigantic drug trust. If the pharmacists are not interested in those problems that appertain to pharmacy, who in God's name would be?

The druggists of the State can perform an important public service by using their influence to bring about a keener realization of the misery, sorrow and waste of life-the fruits of medical dispensing and the countenancing of the public vendor. If all our agencies for the molding of public opinion were directed along these lines as one master mind, we would eventually bring about a change in the minds of the great public, and instead of their being antagonistic they would co-operate with us. However, we can not expect this until we are a unit ourselves. Are we men or slaves? If men we have not worked up to that high plane of efficiency with which a common God has created us. If slaves then the yoke fits us well. We have been too meek in our meekness, too modest in our modesty, too fearful in our fearfulness. We are dumb to our own interests, or else have been hoodwinked by some subtle mesmeric power over which we have no control.

The State Drug Act is but partially regulative, for the reason that it does not require

the same standard for the medicines dispensed by the physicians as by the pharmacist; in fact, the medicines of the dispensing physician do not need to conform to any standard of efficiency whatever. Is there any equity and justice in this? Most emphatically no. This is true and the enigma to me is, why do the pharmacists sit idly by with folded hands? Why do they not operate along those avenues of modern organization which eventually will be the lever to awaken the public press to make a demand for justice?

be

The public press of the State does the bidding of our medical brethren, not because they love them more, but because of the uniformity of the aggressive organization which they have built up. We, too, if we awaken from our Rip Van Winkle sleep and take hold of the problems of organization and association as free men, may hope for a greater pharmacy, for enlarged opportunities; but ere this can brought about we must organize just as systematically and co-operate just as loyally as our medical friends have done. They have blazed the way; it is a road that is not hard to travel, we need united concerted action, and just so long as we withhold our influence and merely talk and plan, and do not lay hold of the problems of organization with all the vim, vigor and intelligence with which we have been endowed, just so long shall we suffer defeat and dishonor, just so long will there be maintained barriers in our paths which we can not surmount. Get up, for God's sake, get up and play your own game, get to work and help push the ball over the goal line. If every pharmacist dug and planted and watered in the garden of his profession as he should and as he could, we would not be confronted with so many mighty obstacles.

The public vender should have no right to sell medicines unless the same have been compounded by a registered pharmacist in accordance with a formula that has been approved by the State Board of Pharmacy. I do not believe in granting a vender the right to compound medicines. It is a dangerous precedent, and should not be tolerated. The pharmacist must pass an examination before the State Board of Pharmacy, he must have had an equivalent of four years' experience before he can compound drugs. The vender, on the other hand, needs no experience, no knowledge of the dosage or the physiological action of drugs; in many instances he compounds his remedies in a stable or fence corner. He not only practices the art of pharmacy, but of medicine as well, for he tells the public what his product is good for, and prescribes the dosage of the same. Is this a sane proposition? If not, then prohibit the public vender from prescribing and dispensing and from practicing the art of medicine and pharmacy.

The Dispensing Physician's Drugs. The State Drug Act does not regulate the products of the dispensing physician. Is there any logical reason why the medicines of the dispensing physician should not conform to the same standards of efficiency as those of the pharmacist? Is there any equity in a law that but partially regulates the standards of medicines? Does the public receive that degree of security to which it is justly entitled? Most assuredly not. It is but fitting that we should inquire, by what right does the physician engage in the trafficking in drugs? Is it because of his superior knowledge? Is it because he is more expert in the compounding of drugs? Is it because he has a better equipment, more delicate and accurate than that of the pharmacist? Most emphatically no, for, on the contrary, he has no special training along these lines, he does not understand the compatabilities of chemicals nearly so well as the pharmacist, his equipment as a rule is meager, crude and unreliable, in many instances he has none whatever and depends upon the eye to determine the quantities used. What would the public think of the pharmacist who practiced such slip-shod methods? The physician has no knowledge of pharmaceutical tests and as a result he is more likely to be imposed upon by those who furnish him his products.

The physician assumes a universal knowledge of all things and by that right dispenses medicines and in many instances he is a competitor, as he sells them as well. The dispensing of medicines by the physician constitutes a very dangerous practice, it is a menace to those whom it should be the function of the physician to save.

What safeguards do the public enjoy who are treated by the dispensing physician? What assurance have they that the medicine administered was the most efficient drug to combat the ravages of disease? Or was administered in proper doses? Or was not an inefficient remedy? Or was not a death-dealing potion, due possibly to the oversight of the overwork ed, overtaxed mind of a well-meaning physician, whose duty it becomes, after death ends all (before the loved one can be laid away in its final resting place) to write a death certificate, which in many instances is far from the facts in the case. Is not this a disgusting, nauseating spectacle? Is it not a stain upon the intelligence of a civilized nation?

Hundreds upon hundreds of errors in the writing of prescriptions have been corrected by the pharmacists to whom they were submitted for compounding, which, had they gone unchallenged, would have caused deaths instead of cures, and if hundreds of lives are saved annually by the writing of what few prescriptions are written. then it necessarily follows that the deaths caused by medical dispensing

must be correspondingly greater, for the reason that the dispensing physicians supply 75 per cent. of all dispensed medicines and the 25 per cent. dispensed by the pharmacists includes medicines sold on prescription and demand of the customer. Does the State Drug Act safeguard the people from inferior medicines? Most assuredly not.

If the medicines dispensed by the physicians were required to comply with the legal standard, and those sold by the pharmacists were allowed to go unchallenged, in that event the large majority of the people would be safeguarded, whereas the law is now, only a small situation, not alone to the pharmacists, but minority is protected. This is an alarming

to the public as well.

As pharmacists, we are not asking for class legislation, but legislation in the interest of all concerned.

all concerned. We ask for a law that will re

quire the same standards for all medicines, whether dispensed by the pharmacists or the physicians. We should, in the cause of right and justice to all. advocate an amendment to the State Drug Act which would correct this class legislation. Does it follow, because the druggists are advocating the enactment of laws regulating medical dispensing, that they do so from selfish motives? Emphatically no, the saving of one life even is of more moment than the saving in dollars and cents to the people.

Prescription writing and pharmaceutical compounding are a safeguard to the public, because of a checking and review of the prescription before compounding.

Russia, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Austria, Norway, Spain and Turkey have regulative laws prohibiting physicians from dispensing and compounding drugs. In some of these countries exceptions are made in sparsely settled sections where it would be a hardship to reach a drug store or in those cases where the life of the patient would be endangered by delay. But these privileges are granted only under special regulations to which the physician must conform.

We can not hope to secure those rights and privileges to which we are justly entitled, until we take up and push forward to success the county branch plan. The day has passed for bickerings and soft words and above the horizon resplendent in all that is dear and hopeful is emblazoned: organization! This is the Moses that is awaiting to lead us out of the slough of despond, out of the depths to higher, grander, nobler and purer fields of pharmacy.

"If pharmacy is to be a profession, it must be based on the intimate knowledge of its individual members, and that knowledge, combined with character, must impress the physician."

NEW REMEDIES--Continued. Renalina is an Italian appellation for adrenalin. Respiratin is the name given by Kitao to a new compound which is said to be useful in respiratory diseases. Chemically it is reported to consist of Rasillit is a German preparation for the removal of hair. It is understood to consist of magnesium sulphide perfumed with amyl acetate, and is marketed use in massaging any part of the body. The pencils Germany.

Gesellschaft, Charlottenburg, Berlin.

Rheumatism serum has been introduced into mediwhich is turned to eject the mass as needed. The wooden holder is sufficiently strong to permit of its are made by Apothecary Wiesengrund, Ingolstadt, a mixture of iodine, Gm. 0.10; pulverized capsicum, Gm. 4.0; camphor, Gm. 3.0; menthol, Gm. 2.0; rosin, Gm. 20; yellow beeswax, Gm. 20; petrolatum, Gm. 5.0; oil of turpentine, Gm. 5.0; oil of wintergreen, Gm. 1.0. The melted mass is poured into hollow wooden pencils fitted with a screw at the bottom, thiodocresol of potassium, but a writer in the Tokio drug journal, Yakugakuzasshi, declares it to be nothing but a one per cent mixture of guaiacolsulphuric acid with milk sugar.

Rheumatism lymph, Wright's, is an emulsion of the bacteria of rheumatism with Hayem's serum. One cubic centimetre contains 10,000,000 bacteria. (There are two forms of Hayem's serum, one a physiological salt solution, and the other a solution of 5 parts of sodium chloride and 10 parts of sodium sulphate in 1,000 parts of water.)

Rheumatism Pencils are put up in Germany under the name Rheumabellinstift. They are composed of cine by the Grenoble Bacteriological Institute. It is obtained from horses that have been rendered immune by injections of anaerobic rheumatism bacteria. It is recommended for use in the treatment of endocarditis, cerebral rheumatism and chorea.

Salossit is an organic compound of calcium, phosphorus and magnesium.

Santyl Tablets contain six grains of santyl and six grains of magnesium carbonate. They are marketed in tubes of 15 tablets. The dose is two tablets four times a day, after meals.

Sarton is the name of a new food preparation for diabetic patients. It is principally composed of soy bean flour. It was formerly put up as a soup in sterilized tins containing 18 to 19 per cent of the dried bean and 8 to 9 per cent of egg albumin. Of late it has been marketed in powder form by the makers, Bayer & Co., Elberfeld.

Silin is hexamethylenetetramine citrosilicate, and is used in uric acid diathesis. It is supplied as a mineral water containing 3 Gm. silin in each litre.

Sodium Mercuriamidooxybutyrosalicylate is an amorphous hygroscopic powder, very soluble in water. It is given as a remedy for syphilis, in doses of 12 to 2 grains hypodermically.

Sophol is an organic silver combination with methylenenucleinic acid, forming a yellowish powder, soluble in water. It has been recommended for use in eye affections, especially for the prophylaxis of ophthalmia neonatorum in 4 per cent solution in the same way as protargol. Marketed by Farbenfabriken of Elberfeld Company, New York.

Statin (see Subacetal).

Stoman is a chemical combination of formaldehyde with the maltose of malt extract (penthamethanalmaltosat). It is employed as a local disinfectant in affections of the mouth and throat, and is marketed in tablets of 15 grains, containing about one-seventh grain of formaldehyde.

Strophanthone is a a purified and physiological standardized preparation of strophanthus seed which is intended for either oral or hypodermic administration in the indications which strophanthus and digi

talis are used; dose, hypodermically, eight minims; internally fifteen minims. Made and marketed by Parke, Davis & Co., Detroit and New York. Subacetal is the name given to a powder designed for the extemporaneous preparation of solution of aluminum acetate. It is also put up under the name of Statin in gelatin capsules containing fifteen grains. One of these capsules dissolved in one pint of distilled water (Gm. 500) represents a solution of lead subacetate, Gm. 25; alum, Gm. 5.

Substitol consists of dried fibrin obtained from the non-coagulated blood of horses freed from the red corpuscles and serum and dried at a temperature not high enough to destroy the ferments in the blood. It is used in the treatment of wounds, either as a dusting powder, taste, or it may be injected hypodermically.

Syphilis Diagnostic, Von Dungern's, represents an interesting development of modern physiological research work, and deeming it the duty of the committee to keep the members informed regarding all new applications used in medicine the following particulars as supplied by Merck & Co. are given. The diagnostic extract consists of a case with sufficient reagents for five tests, and holding one bottle containing 1 Cc. of organic extract in alcoholic solution, one bottle containing 1 Gm. of dried amboceptor (goat's serum standardized against human blood), a package of twenty strips of complement paper (a paper impregnated with the serum of guinea pigs), and a sodium chloride tablet.

Syrgol is a combination of colloidal silver (oxidized) and albumoses, containing 20 per cent of silver. It occurs as brownish-black scales, devoid of odor, slowly soluble in two parts of water, readily soluble in glycerin. The 0.2 per cent aqueous solution has a reddish-brown color and a slightly green fluorescence. It is used externally in 0.1 to 0.2 per cent solution.

Tablogestin is the name applied to a solid form of chologestin put up in tablet form. Three tablets, the average adult dose, are understood to contain sodium glycocholate, 2 grains; sodium salicylate, 21⁄2 grains; pancreatin, 5 grains, and sodium bicarbonate, 5 grains. Made and marketed by F. H. Strong Company, New York.

Tannismuth is bismuth ditannate, a light yellow powder, which is recommended in the treatment of chronic intestinal catarrh and diarrhoea. It is supplied in powdered form in 1 ounce cartons, or in 7% grain tablets, 20 tablets being packed in one tube. Marketed by the Heyden Chemical Works, New York.

Thyresol, santalymethylether, is an almost colorless fluid with an odor resembling that of cedar wood, and a slightly aromatic taste. it is almost insoluble in water, but is miscible with alcohol, ether and chloroform, also with ethereal and fatty oils. It is used for the same affections as other sandal wood oil preparations in doses of 71⁄2 minims three to five times daily in milk or in gelatin perles. It is also supplied in tablet form prepared with the addition of magnesium carbonate.

Trophonin is a compound of nucleoproteid and nucleo-albumin.

Tryparosan is a halogen derivative of parafuchsine, which is intended for use in the treatment of sleeping sickness (trypanosoma).

Tuberal is a clear, colorless liquid, described as a solution of the therapeutic agent of tubercle bacilli, containing 0.3 per cent of carbolic acid. It is given internally for tuberculosis, in tablespoonful doses. It is made by A. Thamm, Berlin.

Tyramine is a new active principle of ergot-parahydroxyphenylethylamine-the chief active principle of aqueous extracts of ergot. It causes a marked rise of blood pressure, with greatly improved vigor of the heart's action. It is administered hypodermically in doses of 0.005 Gm.